Charged ex-BP engineer: Deleted texts were routine

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Lawyers for a former BP engineer are pressing federal prosecutors to explain how their client impeded a grand jury probe by deleting text messages about the company's response to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In a court filing Monday, Kurt Mix's attorneys also were seeking a court order requiring prosecutors to specify which deleted texts form the basis for the obstruction-of-justice charges against him.

Defense attorneys say the vast majority of deleted texts don't appear to have any connection to Mix's work on BP's effort to stop the flow of oil from its blown-out Macondo well.

Prosecutors claim Mix deliberately deleted text messages to a supervisor and a contractor to prevent them from being used in the grand jury's probe of the spill.